1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to payments to a retailer by a separate payment company for retail merchandise purchased by a customer. More specifically, the invention relates to a retailer accepting the credentials of a payment company and the customer selecting a payment company using an electronic device such as a wireless personal portable device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recent great change factor in retail sales has been the deconstruction of customer experience cycle process points to modularized events. This has been driven in part by customers taking control of their retail experience via greater access enabled through technology, and in part enabled by dynamic retail playing fields. For example, a customer may go use a search engine to research some product. They turn to social media for reviews of that same product. They may use a pricing spider to find the “best value”. They may go back to the search engine for a value-based search on that product for intent to purchase. Then, they may go to a retailer (online, or real brick and mortar, or social) to purchase and then choose across delivery options. Retail has and is becoming more and more embedded in other facets and channels—including horizontal or electronic social venues. This is furthering the decomposition of the retailing experience from a destination to ubiquity. As retailing becomes more faceted and embedded, the challenge for the retailer is to also become more faceted and pervasive leveraging new and emerging channels of interaction and communication.